Intra-Oral Device Detects Opoid Overdose
As you may have heard, the U.S. is in the grips of an opoid epidemic. Overdose deaths from heroin, oxycontin, and fentanyl have quadrupled since 1999. The key to detecting opoid overdose before it’s too late is in monitoring respiration. Opoids in particular cause depressed respiration, which is slow and ineffective breathing that’s inadequate for the gas exchange that keeps us alive. Depressed respiration becomes fatal unless the patient is given nalaxone, an antidote that works by blocking opoid receptors in the brain.
[Curt White] is developing an intra-oral device to prevent opoid overdose via early detection. It tracks a …read more